So if you know what I am talking about, you know what I am talking about.
In adult-oriented American media in the old days, intellectually/developmentally/mentally disabled characters were often depicted to be wearing helmets, diapers, drooling, and having “that” tone of their voice, while speaking things that don’t make sense. While this stereotype has mostly vanished, it is still kinda alive in the form of that “brainlet” wojak and Jeffy from the SuperMarioLogan videos.
I’ve been wondering this for a long time now. Where the hell does this stereotype come from?
Well, when IQ was invented, it was assumed that well-adjusted people generally had higher IQs, and since there -are- people with incredably inhibited mental capability, and those people -are- considered neurodivergent by definition, it was assumed that high functioning neurodivergent people must also be “mentally deficient” if they can’t function properly in society, with some exceptions to savants who were recognized as being so highly capable in their field that it compensated for their “stupidity” in common matters. It’s also noteworthy that public understanding of mental health disorders pre-80’s boiled down to “r****d” and “schizo.”
Yep. Tangentially related, it’s important as well to remember that even today, places aren’t great with ADA compliance. It was even worse previously. From my memory, there’s been a massive amount of progress in terms of acceptance and understanding since around 2010.
I have a friend who grew up in the 80s. They were born three whole months early, and their parents were told by doctors that a successful life for them would be a job stocking shelves with dry goods, if they were lucky. No evidence of any actual developmental issues, just because they were born early. They have a masters degree.
They have a brother with Cerebral Palsy. Their parents pretty much had to champion ADA and proper rights for neurodivergent and physically handicapped people in their county.
Hell, I remember people casually using “gay” and “r****ded” as derogatory terms until around 2005.
I had a friend in high school around that time with a non-verbal autistic brother. It was eye opening to me when I hung out at his house and he told me “my brother can’t speak, but don’t think he doesn’t understand. He gets away with a lot of shit because people don’t think he understands or knows any better, but don’t let it fool you.” If I had never went over to his house I would have never known there was anything more to know about people like his brother, simply because I had no means of exposure to it.
The proliferation of the internet out to more than just hobbyists and nerds, which seemed to start around that time, created tons of spaces and opportunities for people to start finally talking to others about “non-normal” but shared experiences. For information to start surfacing and spreading about living with all these different conditions. More exposure to info causes more familiarity and understanding.
Before then, the idea of just casually browsing something for information on things you weren’t already interested in or familiar with could only really happen through school, newspapers, and magazines. Maybe through TV shows like 60 minutes doing exposes on topics. Not many people were going to a library and reading up on effectively random things to them. You can’t know what you can’t know. Internet makes this far far easier, and also gives a wonderful space to learn about lived experiences from the people who have lived them.